Journal ArticleDOI
Setting Theoretical Egos Aside: Issues and Theory in North American Archaeology
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TLDR
Theory in North American archaeology is characterized in terms of foci and approaches manifested in research issues, rather than in explicit or oppositional theoretical positions as discussed by the authors, which may contribute to diversity and dialogue, but it also may cause North American theory to receive inadequate attention and unfortunate misunderstandings of postmodernism.Abstract:
Theory in North American archaeology is characterized in terms of foci and approaches manifested in research issues, rather than in explicit or oppositional theoretical positions. While there are some clear-cut theoretical perspectives—evolutionary ecology, behavioral archaeology, and Darwinian archaeology—a large majority of North American archaeology fits a broad category here called “processual-plus.” Among the major themes that crosscut many or all of the approaches are interests in gender, agency/practice, symbols and meaning, material culture, and native perspectives. Gender archaeology is paradigmatic of processual-plus archaeology, in that it draws on a diversity of theoretical approaches to address a common issue. Emphasis on agency and practice is an important development, though conceptions of agency are too often linked to Western ideas of individuals and motivation. The vast majority of North American archaeology, including postprocessual approaches, is modern, not postmodern, in orientation. The relative dearth of theoretical argument positively contributes to diversity and dialogue, but it also may cause North American theory to receive inadequate attention and unfortunate misunderstandings of postmodernism.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache.
TL;DR: Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache by Keith H. Basso as discussed by the authors was published by Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 1996. 171 pp.
Book
Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations
TL;DR: Yoffee as discussed by the authors argues that early states were not uniformly constituted bureaucratic and regional entities, but had slaves and soldiers, priests and priestesses, peasants and prostitutes, merchants and craftsmen.
Journal ArticleDOI
Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations , by Norman Yoffee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-81837-0 hardback £45 & US$75; ISBN 0-521-52156-4 paperback £19.99 & US$34.99, 291 pp.
Norman Yoffee,Roger Matthews,Trigger Bruce G,Philip L. Kohl,David Webster,Katharina J. Schreiber +5 more
TL;DR: Yoffee as mentioned in this paper argues that the focus on the origins of the state has stifled rather than stimulated our understanding of early state development, and stresses the diversity of the early Mesopotamian state.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Outline of a Theory of Practice
TL;DR: Bourdieu as mentioned in this paper develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood.
Book
The Selfish Gene
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take up the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinship theory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences.
Book
The logic of practice
TL;DR: In this article, the Imaginary Anthropology of Subjectivism is described as an "imaginary anthropology of subjectivism" and the social uses of kinship are discussed. And the work of time is discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Constitution of Society.
Mario D. Zamora,Anthony Giddens +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a continuously conveyed series of uniformly dimensioned panels of thin sheet material are counted and stacked from the bottom against an abutment edge of a stationary but rotatable cam plate.